Reviewing Refactored Code
I review C# code at work (ok, feel bad for me now) and I have to say, refactored codes ARE NOT easier to read in a big application! To analyze one method, I had to open nearly 20 different files, and the by the time I got to the final code, I completely forgot what I was looking for. Granted, I’m dumber than the most people reading this blog, it’s rather ridiculous to go through so many different files.
Don’t get me wrong, going through a pile of spaghetti code isn’t any better, but I’m somewhat irritated by those insisting that refactoring the code makes it far easier to read. It’s not always the case.
What makes the code easy to read involves several factors. From my experiences, they are 1) strictly implemented coding standard, 2) sticking to chosen design pattern, and 3) functional specification (DHH will disagree with me since he believes that functional specification is a waste of time).
